Representatives of some 20 non-governmental and non-profit human rights organizations, as well as the commissioners on human rights from all federal districts of the country have been invited to attend the meeting.

“The meeting will focus on issues related to the everyday activities of human rights activists in Russia,” the Kremlin said.

Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Putin’s conversation with human rights activists “will be held, as always, in a free discussion format.”

The Russian president’s meetings with representatives of the human rights community are held on a regular basis. This year, Putin has several times received Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin and head of the Presidential Human Rights Council (HRC) Mikhail Fedotov.

In early September, the head of state held a HRC meeting in the Kremlin. Putin’s discussion with human rights defenders continued for several hours and also focused on the possible declaration of amnesty, the idea of which was put forward by the HRC in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution.

On December 9, the Russian president submitted the draft decree on amnesty to the State Duma lower house of parliament.